There's A First Time For Everthing
by Winter Saphire
Summary: COMPLETE LJ 7th year. Lily agrees to one date with James, which starts off well enough, but has a few bad moments, ending with a spectacular fightif I do say so myself. RR please!
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: WOW this is sooooooo long! it was originally a one shot, about 1000 words, but now its something like 12000, so you know. Its not. Anyway, I've been working on it for a while. Please do read it! _I know there are probably a few typos here and there, so feel free to point them out_. I tried to edit it, but you never know. So, whatever. Point 'em out if you see 'em! Anyway, that's enough of my rambling, so on with the story. Oh, and _**don't forget to review!**

**It's roughly split in half, just to make it easier to read. It's all one thing, but it seemed too much to make it one chapter, so it's two. Savvy?**

**Rated T for some language and a minor scene.**

**There's a First Time For Everything**

"Go out with me, Evans, come on, just this once." James Potter pleaded. He ran his hand through his hair, trying to give it the messy-just-out-of-Quidditch-practice look, AKA, the look that annoyed Lily Evans the most.

Lily's emerald eyes flashed. "Potter, the day I go out with you is the day hell freezes over."

"So I have a chance, then. Right?" he asked hopefully.

Lily just rolled her eyes. "Sure, Potter. Sure."

- - - -

"Please go out with me?" James asked her for the fourth time that morning.

"No, Potter," she answered calmly.

"Please?" he asked, stepping closer, reaching out to twirl a lock of deep red curly hair that had escaped the elastic.

"No, Potter." She pushed his hand down. "No."

- - - -

"Lils, please, just once. Just go out with me once," James asked.

"No, Potter. No. Please, stop asking me!"

He stepped closer to her, putting his hands on her hips. Leaning down to whisper in her ear, he said, "You know you want me."

She felt a shiver run up her spine and knew it had nothing to do with the fact that it was the middle of January. She placed her hands on his arms and pushed them off her hips.

"No, Potter. Please, stop."

- - - -

"Evans, just go out with Prongs already! Everyone knows you like him! Besides, Moony and I are getting tired of him moping around because you keep turning him down." Sirius Black was literally on his knees in front of her, hands in front of him like he was praying. "Please. End my suffering!"

"No, Black. Go away!"

"Please?" he asked, swiping at a stray black hair.

"No."

"Fine. I knew it wouldn't do any good." He stood, standing up to his full height of 6'3". "But please, think about it."

Lily stared up at him. "Right."

- - - -

"Lily, would you please consider going out with Prongs?" Remus Lupin asked. He rubbed his tired looking blue-grayish eyes. "I haven't gotten any sleep because of you turning Prongs down."

"Look, Remus, I'm sorry, but I just don't go out with insufferable prats who have egos the size of Hogwarts." Lily sighed and pulled her hair up, taking it off her face.

"Which is why you went out with Prewett," Remus muttered, just loud enough for her to hear.

"Oh shut up, Lupin." Lily said good-naturedly.

"Lily, I beseech you as a friend and a fellow prefect, please, go out with Prongs!"

"No!"

"Pretty please?"

"No!"

- - - -

"Lils, you really should go out with James. He's perfect for you! He's hot, he's talented- in sports, school and bed- and he's beyond able to handle your temper!" Maccenzy Lark tried to reason with Lily.

"Sorry, Mac, but no way."

"I don't get why you hate him! He never did anything to you!"

"I don't hate him, I just don't throw myself at his feet begging for him to lay me!"

"That's right. If you _really_ wanted to get laid, you'd sneak up to his dorm and shag him."

"Oh _God!_ I only did that once!"

Mac just smirked. "Listen. Lil, I know you're no nun, and you've had your fair share of one-night stands, but come on. Don't be so up tight about him. Flirt with him a little."

"Ma-ac," Lily whined, "that's what got me into this mess to begin with."

"Oh. . . yeah. . . DUH!"

"Oh shut up!" Lily growled playfully.

- - - -

"Lily, will you please go out with me? If you go out with me once I'll stop asking you!" James tried to compromise, but it just wasn't working.

"No, Potter. Because then you, along with the whole school, will think I actually like you!"

"Like you don't?" he asked, snorting.

"Exactly. I don't. Stop asking me!"

"Please? Just once, Lils. Just once. Just go with me to Hogsmead and I'll stop asking you." He pleaded.

"No, Potter. I'm sorry, but no."

- - - -

And thus went the remainder of their 6th year at Hogwarts. James asked Lily out, Lily declined. Maccenzy and the Marauders begged her to go out with James to no avail.

It was on the train, going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on September 1, 1979 that things changed.

This is where our story _really_ begins.

- - - -

It was an okay day, by Lily Evans' standards. Not too sunny, some clouds, and a light blue sky.

She pushed her trolley forward, slowly sliding onto platform 9 and ¾. Popping out on the other side, she glanced around. Rolling her eyes at the amount of guys looking at her, she went of in search of Maccenzy.

She pushed her hair out of her face and hastily tied it up in a messy bun. Her white halter-top accented her creamy porcelain skin, contrasting with her deep red hair. She wore dark blue jean hipsters that accentuated her curves perfectly. She had on a silver locket, and wore no makeup-she couldn't stand the stuff.

Spinning in a slow circle, she glanced around for Mac.

"Lily!" All of a sudden, Lily was engulfed in a giant hug from Sirius and Remus. Over the past ½ year she had grown quite close to them, as Mac was going out with Remus.

"Remus! Sirius! How are you guys? I haven't seen you in _ages_!" she hugged them both back; dropping kisses on their cheeks.

Finally letting go, Sirius backed away from her, allowing Lily to see James for the first time.

"Ja-Potter. You look- g-good." And he did. He had on a pair of nice, dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt that showed off his muscles with out being too showy. He held out a hand to Lily and she just stared at it.

"Lils, I think you're supposed to shake his hand." Remus whispered in her ear.

Lily blushed and reached out to shake his hand. He gripped her hand.

All of a sudden James was shoved forward, causing Lily to get shoved into the train. In order to stop himself from squishing Lily, James threw out his hands one landing on either side of her, locking her in-between James and the train.

When she finally opened her eyes, she saw James' face was a centimeter away from her own. His eyes were open and were staring at her fully red lips. Lily let her own eyes travel away from his hazel eyes to his yummy looking lips. She slowly tilted her head up, as he brought his head down.

"JAMES! LILY! You okay?"

Shaken out of her reverie, Lily noticed just how close she was to kissing James. James _bloody_ Potter.

"Oh my God! Lily! Are you okay? Did he squish you? James Potter you squished her! How could you!" Maccenzy raced over and shoved James out of the way.

"Gee, thanks, Mac." James pouted.

"You deserved it. You squished my best friend!"

"I didn't squish her! I wouldn't do that!"

Mac just cocked an eyebrow at him. "Whatever you say, Potter." Turning to Lily she waved her hand in front of Lily's face, trying to see if she would blink. "Lils?" Nothing. Oh, well, this could be fun. Grinning evilly, she said, "Listen, I know you're madly in love with Potter, but please. Spare me the torture of seeing my best friend snog my boyfriend's best friend."

"Huh?" Lily asked intelligently.

"I _said_, 'I know you're madly in love with Potter, but please. Spare me the torture of seeing my best friend snog my boyfriend's best friend.'"

Lily looked disgusted as James perked up. "She likes me?" he asked Mace excitedly.

"No. Potter, she does _not_ like you." Lily said.

"No, but she has the art of talking in third person just fine." Mac supplied helpfully.

"Ma-ac!"

"Li-ly!"

"Shut up, you two. Geez!" Sirius shouted.

Suddenly, all the Marauders could hear were things like "Oh my god, I haven't seen you in forever!" and "I missed you so much!" and "Omigosh! Did I tell you? I'M HEAD GIRL!"

"Oh my god! Wow! Lils, that's fantastic!" Mac shrieked, hugging Lily tightly.

Sirius, Remus and James quickly stuck their fingers in their ears so as not to go deaf at an early age.

"You know, it's actually quite amazing that girls can scream that loud."

"Yeah. It is. Its also quite freaky."

Lily and Mac stopped jumping around and shrieking, and calmly started telling each other about their summer holidays.

"How do they _do_ that?" James asked, amazed. "One minute they're shrieking and stuff, the next they're talking like nothing happened."

"James, you're embarking on an impossible mission; trying to figure out the inner workings of Lark's and Evans' minds," Sirius said, shaking his head sadly.

"Come on, guys. If we don't get on the train, we'll be late!" The boys looked up to see Lily and Mac waving out a window and giggling like mad.

"How did you—you were just—wow. How did you go from being right there"—He pointed to a spot close to them— "To being in there?" Sirius asked.

Lily and Mac just looked at each other and grinned evilly. The Marauders exchanged looks, shrugged, grabbed their trunks, and boarded the train, entering the girls' compartment.

"No. Potter. OUT!" Lily screamed at him as soon as he stepped into the compartment. Just then, James was shoved forward, and for the second time that day, his face wound up inches away from Lily's.

"Jesus James. Why'd you block the door?" Frank Longbottom said.

"Really, James, why did you? You know its beyond rude," Alice Prewett scolded James playfully.

"Hey-ya guys!" An all too chirpy Natalie Hawk flounced in and sat in the last empty chair.

James and Lily had yet to move from their position. Just as Mac was about to say something, the train started, causing James to stumble backwards. Looking around, he noticed that now that peter, Alice, Frank, and Natalie were here, there were no seats for him. Shrugging, he turned back to Lily, picked her up and placed her on his lap, locking his arms around her so she couldn't get up.

He needn't have bothered, as Lily closed her eyes and snuggled into his embrace. She tucked her head in between his neck and shoulder. James stared down at her.

"Mac, what has Lily been smoking? Has she been drinking?" asked a thoroughly confused James.

Startled, Mac looked up and her jaw nearly hit the floor. "OHMYGOD! What did you do to her? Take that curse off her right now!"

Her shout attracted the attention of the other people in the room.

"Way to go, mate! Yah finally got her!" Sirius congratulated.

"Yea, way to go, Prongs!" Remus said.

"Congrats, mate. She's all yours!" Frank and Alice said together.

"God, guys. You _know_ she would never do something like that!" Natalie said.

"Well, yeah, but…she is, and I'm not exactly complaining!" James told her.

"James Potter, you get your hands off her this instant!" Natalie shouted.

"Come on Jamsie-Wamsie! We have to go to the Heads' compartment in a minute," Lily said cheerfully.

"What? Lils, you were just sound asleep, on _Potter's_ lap. What was that?" Mac asked.

"Oh, God, guys, you don't really think I would do something like that, do you?" Lily stood up and disgustedly whipped off her pants and hair.

"You know what's not fair?" James asked after the few minutes of silence following Lily making Maccenzy sit on Remus' lap and taking Mac's seat.

"What?" Sirius asked excitedly.

James looked at him oddly before answering. "I have only asked Lily out 102 times. And she makes it sound like I've done it a gazillion times! It's _so_ not fair!"

Sirius and Remus rolled their eyes as Lily and Mac smirked at each other. Peter, Natalie, Frank and Alice all looked at each other. It was going to be a _LONG_ train ride.

- - - - -

The train lurched to a stop and Natalie, Alice, Mac and Lily simultaneously sighed in relief. It had been one long, boring, torturous ride, dotted with Prefect meetings and questions from first years. All in all, they were glad to be back at Hogwarts.

"Can you believe that this is our last year?" Lily asked softly.

"Don't say that Lils. It's sad enough already." Alice responded just as softly.

"I can _soooooo_ believe it! This is our last year and we are going to make it the best!" Natalie pumped her fist in the air.

"HELLLLLL _YES!_" Mac agreed.

"I guess so." Lily said sadly.

"Don't worry about your Head Girl position, we'll take all the blame for everything." Alice assured her.

"In that case…."

"Li-ly!"

"What!"

"Never mind. I'm hungry. Let's GO already!"

- - - -

The sorting was, as always, slow. The first years walked out, following McGonagall, looking like they were being sentenced to death. The sorting hat song was as cryptic as always, and, all in all, it was boring.

The girls, with the exception of Lily, as she was to meet with Potter and Dumbledore to discuss Head Student responsibilities, slowly walked out of the Hall.

"You know, I'm glad Lily is Head Girl this year." Natalie said.

"What? Why's that?" Mac asked, bewildered.

"Well…. See, the past six years, Lily has been working her little arse off for this position. You know, studying, choosing books over us, the most perfectest friends in the world, yah know. Anyway, she's been working for this. Now, since she's finally got the position, she can RELAX. No more late nights studying, nothing. She can just RELAX. And MAYBE, just maybe, get a boy friend. Like James Potter for instance…" Natalie trailed off, looking thoughtful.

Mac and Alice, on the other hand, looked horrified. Natalie didn't see the looks, as she was staring over their shoulder.

"So Lily finally admitted to you that she likes me, eh?" James asked, grinning arrogantly.

"In your _dreams_, Potter," Alice growled.

"Oh. Alright then." James lost a little bit of the cockiness in his grin for a moment, but it was right back there in a second. "So…..When do you think she will finally admit that she really actually loves me? Because I can't wait around for forever!"

"Potter, I tolerate you because you are on **MY** Quidditch team. Please, do not take advantage of that." Mac growled.

"Oh…Right. So I'll leave you ladies to it, then." James slowly started backing away, knowing that you did NOT want to anger Maccenzy Lark.

"So. Now that Potter's gone, what are we going to do about Lily?" Natalie asked, getting back to the subject.

Alice looked thoughtful. "I think she needs a boyfriend."

Stunned silence followed. Then a chuckle. Then laughter.

"A boyfriend. For Lily. Queen of One Night Stands? That Lily?" Natalie asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Well, I know she's had a few one night stands, and they all turn out great for _her_, but come on. Maybe she does that because she's like…I dunno, jealous of Frank and I, or Mac and Remus, or you and Todd, or something." Alice said, trying to put reason behind her "way-out-there" remark, according to Natalie.

"So….Basically, you're saying that Lily is a jealous, desperate slut who wants to settle down with her down-to-Earth sweetie?" Mac asked.

"Um…..Yep, that sounds about right." Alice said, nodding.

"Ok then. I think this is the LAST time we let you have sugar right before bed." Natalie said, taking the box of chocolate frogs from her friend.

Alice reached for the box but Natalie held it way above her head.

The girls came to the portrait hole and said the password ("Bumble brain").

"That has GOT to be THE weirdest password we've ever had," Mac said as she crawled through.

"Nope, there was that one last year, it was a sentence….I don't remember what it was exactly, but it was odder," Alice answered her.

"Stop talking about the password. We are dealing with a serious mission: Operation GLABBODT….or Operation Get Lily A Boyfriend Or Die Trying," Natalie said, throwing the box of Chocolate Frogs in the direction of four first years.

Alice shot Natalie a glare before settling down on a chair in front of the fireplace. Mac looked at Natalie with wide eyes and said worriedly, "Are you all right?"

Natalie nodded enthusiastically. "So. I was thinking. We need to find Lily's diary. You know, the one she writes in CONSTANTLY. It's so annoying. And she's only been doing it for like a week, and she's all ready used half of the pages. Anyway, we need to find out if she fancies anyone, besides Potter, because he is obviously out. That would mean it has to be a Ravenclaw or a Marauder, because she hates Hufflepuffs and Slytherins….Who could it be? Oh, I hope it's not Si—Black. I really do…." She said all this in one breath, trailing off in the end.

Alice and Mac just looked at her.

"Yep. It's settled then. You need help," Alice said solemnly.

"Now, now. Hold your horses. It just might work," Mac said, thinking the idea over.

"Exactly. We have to get her her down-to-earth sweetie. But, step one of Operation GLABBODT is find out who it is," Natalie stated.

Alice looked at her two friends and decided that they were ABSOLUTELY, no bout adout it, nutters. And she said so. "You two are, no bout adout it absolutely nutters. None the less, I will help, if only to make sure Lily does not find out and murderer you. I would hate to have two of my best friends murdered by my other best friend."

"So you're in?" Mac asked excitedly.

Alice sighed. "Yes," she answered, wondering just what she got her self into.

"Excellent!" Mac rubbed her hands together in a sinister way before bounding up the stairs to their dorm.

Alice and Natalie started after her. "What is she doing?" Alice asked.

"I have no idea. But I think we should be worried," Natalie said, looking around for people listening on their conversation.

Mac returned a moment later, carrying a little black book with "Diary" written in silver on the cover. On the side where it should have opened was a dial with letters.

Natalie looked at it dubiously. "How do you expect to find the password?"

"I don't expect to, I already have. It's 'Potter'," Mac said as she entered "Potter" on the dial. The lock sprang open and Alice and Natalie stared at her.

"How did you know?" Natalie asked as she reached for the diary.

Mac held it out of her reach as she answered. "It was easy. She picked the least likely to be guessed password, which in turn made it the most likely."

Alice nodded. "That makes sense."

"No, it doesn't. It's complete rubbish. She just flat out likes James. It wasn't some stupid make 'em think its one thing but it's really this other thing." Natalie said, lunging for the book. She missed and went sprawling on the floor.

"What ever. Point is, we have her diary, and its open, waiting for us to read it!" Mac said, settling down on the couch and opening the book to the first page. Natalie and Alice crowded around her.

- - - - -

They were in the same position two hours later when Lily, James and the other Marauders walked in.

There were several crashes and bangs, but Mac, Natalie and Alice did not look up, having grown accustom to explosions in the six and a half years they had known the Marauders.

Mac finally looked up when the couch they were sitting on shook, almost knocking her off backwards.

Lily sat on the floor behind the couch, giggling insanely. James plopped down next to her, chuckling loudly. Sirius glanced helplessly at the girls. Remus sat down on one of the chairs, not wanting to get involved this time. He helped get them back to the common room without them being seen, and there fore could not be arsed to get up and help some more.

Mac looked at Sirius, her eyes saying "What the _hell!"_ Sirius shrugged. It wasn't like he didn't want to tell her, he just didn't know himself.

Alice got off the couch and crouched down in front of Lily. "Hey, Lils, calm down, ok?" she said, resting a hand on her friend's shoulder. Lily just laughed harder.

James reached up and pulled on Alice's shoulder-length blonde hair. He gave it a strong yank and Alice, balancing on her toes, fell over onto him. She toppled over, landing on his lap, making Lily and James start banging on the floor from laughter.

Natalie raised an eyebrow at Sirius. "What did they do to themselves?" she asked, prying Lily's hands off her hair.

"I have no idea. Remus and I were leaving the kitchens and we hear this bang, then a crash, then a bunch of giggling. We thought it was a bunch of first year girls, so we were gunna go tell 'em off. You know, freak 'em out, big bad seventh years yada yada. Anyway, we go 'round the corner, and there are Darling Flower and Prongsie, sitting on the floor, with a suit of armor completely dented and broken and cracked and destroyed, laughing their heads off!" he said very fast, all in one breath. As he stopped to breathe, Lily got up, tottered over to him, and kissed his cheek.

Sirius looked at her, then, to the astonishment of everyone else, pulled her back and kissed her full on the lips. Lily stood frozen, her slightly more-than-sloshed brain not knowing how to handle this new sensation of kissing Sirius Black. He pulled back and smirked at her as she whimpered from loss of contact.

Before he knew what was happening, though, Sirius found himself sprawled on the floor, a wand pointing at him. Following the wand up to the face of the owner, he gasped. "Prongs! Mate! Don't hurt me!" Sirius tried to shrink into the carpet.

"I wont, if you keep your hands, lips and other body parts away from my Lily!" James growled, punctuating each word with a sharp jab in Sirius' chest.

Lily got up and walked over to James and put her hands on her hips. "Don't do that, James! Play nice, or _no treat tonight_." She whispered the last words and ran a hand up his arm.

Natalie, Mac and Alice stared at Lily, wondering just what, exactly, had happened after the head students went to see Dumbledore.

James smirked at Lily and grabbed her hand. Lily tried to tug it away, but he was too strong. He yanked hard on her arm and she stumbled a few steps and fell into him. Her other hand rested on his chest and his hand went to her cheek. He roughly pulled her face up to meet his, and kissed her fiercely. His hand let go of hers and went around her waist as her arms flew around his neck.

Sirius, Remus, Natalie, Mac and Alice stared in shock. "What the _hell_ happened to you two?" James waved a hand at them as if to say "Later," and went back to snogging Lily.

Alice sighed heavily. It wasn't like she wasn't _glad_ they were kissing, she just didn't want to see Lily's sober reaction to all this in the morning. Natalie, sensing what Alice had in mind, went up behind James. Alice came up behind Lily, wand pointed at her neck. Natalie took the same stance, casting a sobering charm. It didn't seem to have had any affect on the kissing couple.

"Maybe they're sober already?" Mac asked hopefully.

"No, no, we it can't be that easy to get them together. We must have done something wrong," Alice said, half-hoping that was true.

All of a sudden, there was an ear splitting scream, a loud smack, and a "JAMES POTTER!"

"Oh, yea, it worked all right!" Natalie said as she lunged at Lily's left arm. Alice grabbed Lily's right arm and held on tight. Lily was thrashing, trying to get an arm free.

"Let me at him! He kissed me! Let _go,_ Alice! You, too, Nat! LET GO!" Lily shouted, thrashing wildly.

Mac and Sirius stepped between her and James, wands drawn. Remus was behind them, talking to James, trying to make him go to the dorm.

"Go, James! We can't hold her much longer!" Alice shouted as Lily got her right arm loose. James didn't need further pushing. He raced up the stairs; just barely dodging the curse he sensed rather than saw. He slammed the door shut, shouting all the locking charms he knew.

A second later, there were shouts of "_Alohamora_!" And the door rattled on it's hinges as Lily banged on it. The door stayed locked and in tact, even though Lily tried every curse she knew from "_Reducto!" _to "_Incindio_!"

James could hear a muffled "LILY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" through the door, and backed all the way into the bathroom on the other end of the dorm.

Ten minutes later, the door burst open to reveal a sweating Remus and Sirius.

James came out of the bathroom in time to hear Sirius saying, "Personally, I think we should have let her have him. He would have deserved what he got, the way his hands were all over her!"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Padfoot. You weren't much better when you were snogging her."

"Uh…guys? Guys, do you wanna tell me what happened and why Lily was trying harder than usual to kill me and why you're talking about me snogging her, and _why were your hands all over her, Sirius?_" Glaring at Sirius, James sat on the edge of the closest bed.

Remus sighed, knowing Sirius would come up with some bullshit story. "We were in the kitchens. We were coming out, and there was the crash, bang, and a bunch of giggles. We thought it was a few first years so we were going to talk to them. We come around the corner, and what do we find? James Potter and Lily Evans giggling insanely, not trying to kill each other or ask each other out, respectively. We helped you two get back to the common room without getting caught. You teased Alice, Sirius explained to Natalie what we knew, and Lily got up, and kissed Sirius on the cheek. Sirius pulled her back and started snogging her. His hands were _all over_ her"—he glared at Sirius—"and you pulled him off, sending him flying. You pointed your wand at him and you said you wouldn't hurt him if he kept his hands off _your_ Lily. Lily said something about be nice or no treat, and you kissed her. Alice and Nat cast a sobering charm and Lily got sober faster than you. She realized she was snogging you, and all hell broke loose." Remus sighed again, rubbing his temples.

James was quiet. "Oh." He paused. "You mean, I kissed Lily Evans?" Sirius nodded. "Bloody _hell!_ That's _wicked_, that is! God, I've wanted to do that for _years!_ Too bad I have no recollection of it. Why did I have to be bloody _drunk?_"

"Hey, mate, we were wondering, why _were_ you drunk?" Sirius asked, lazily throwing his pillow up and down, it more often than not hitting him in the face.

"Padfoot, there's the reason you aren't a chaser. Anyway, good ol' Dumblydore had just told us we have our own common room/dorm thing on the second floor. He also said that we had to be _responsible_" –he said the word like it was dirt—"and have _meetings, _and _plan_ things, and you know, set a good example for the younger—("And same age kids," Remus interrupted with a pointed look at Sirius, who had now started to throw a book up and down, saying "OW" every time it hit his face) kids," James said, shuddering. "So, Lily Flower decided that before we had to officially be all responsible and shit, she wanted to get smashed. So, I told her I know just the place. And she said she wanted more that butter beer, so I took her to the Hog's Head. And let me tell you, she sure can hold her alcohol, that one." He smiled, reminiscing. "Anyway, that's all I remember. It took us a long time to get how we were, even with Fire Whiskey." He lay back on the bed, hoping Peter wouldn't mind if he fell asleep there.

"Oh…. Right. _Responsibility_ will make _Lily Evans_ want to get sloshed," Sirius said dubiously, suddenly pointing his blasting his book to pieces. "What?" he said indignantly. "It was going to hit me in the face!"

"Don't ask me. I was with a drunk, hot girl. I was _not _wondering what would make her want to get drunk."

"Hm…that_ is_ sort of interesting." Remus mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Whatever. At least Prongsie is alive," Sirius said, throwing his pillow at James. "So, since I only got to snog her for a second, is she any good?" He asked, sitting up expectantly.

"At least you _remember_, Padfoot. I don't. There are two things I don't like about sobering charms. One, you can't remember _anything_, and two, you still have a hangover." James said, sighing. "God, tomorrow morning's going to be hell."

"With or with out Lily," Remus said smartly.

James groaned, rolling onto his stomach.

- - - - - In the girl's dorm, at the same time - - - - -

"What was he _kissing_ me for? What was he thinking? Why was I kissing back? Why did you guys _let _him maul me like that? Why did you let _me_ let him?" Lily exploded the second Alice, Natalie and Mac had managed to drag her into their dorm.

The three girls just let Lily rant, knowing it would be signing their own death warrant to answer. A few minutes later, Lily had calm down to the occasional outburst of "Curse him!" every now and then.

The girls were sitting on Mac's bed, with Lily pacing and muttering in front of them.

"Holy shit!" Mac shouted. "I completely forgot!"

"What? What did you forget?" Lily asked distractedly.

"Nothing, just homework for tomorrow," she answered. Lily nodded absently, not registering that they didn't have homework.

"Guys," Mac whispered to Alice and Natalie, "I forgot the diary in the common room. And it was open! Anyone can read it!"

"MACCENZY!" Alice shouted.

"Hush!" Natalie said. "I will go and get it. Just tell Lily I forgot my sweater or something."

"Right," Mac said, nodding.

Natalie slipped past Lily, who was still pacing, oblivious to the problem the other girls were facing. She opened the door silently and was closing it when Lily noticed she was leaving.

"Where are you going, Nat?" she asked.

"Oh…I'm uh, getting my sweater," she said nervously.

"You're wearing one," Lily said distractedly.

Natalie glanced down. Sure enough, she was wearing her favorite navy blue sweater. "Oh," she said, looking to Alice and Mac for a different excuse.

"Oh, honestly, Nat, I know all about you and Sirius! Just go down and shag him like you want to!" Lily said, smirking.

Natalie opened her mouth to heatedly deny it—not that there was anything to deny, when shoe came flying at her from Alice. "Oh, right. Yea. Uh…Bye, guys." Natalie backed out of the room again, and sprinted down the stairs to the common room.

By the fire on the couch that they had been on earlier, there were three first years, holding Lily's diary. She crept up behind them, intending to scare them. She listened to their conversation, wondering how much she was going to have to threaten them not to say anything when she heard, "_Ugg, who would write about replanting mandrakes? How dreadfully boring this is! I can't believe we thought someone would leave an interesting diary lying around. C'mon, girls. Let's go to bed_."

"_Hm…I wonder what that was all about," _she thought. _"Maybe Lily charmed it to only be read by her…But then how could we read it? Or maybe we weren't reading the actual thing, which is why we didn't find any interesting things."_

Natalie hid from the first years, waiting till she heard their dorm door close. She snuck out of the corner, careful not to make any noise. She grabbed the book and was in the process of stuffing it under her sweater when a hand stopped her.

"Lily! I'm sorry, we just wanted to—" She was cut off by a second hand over her mouth.

"Shush, Nat! Are you _trying_ to wake everyone up?" Sirius breathed into her ear.

"Oh. It's you," she said, exhaling deeply.

"Do I want to know why you thought I was Lily and freaked?" Sirius asked, guiding her over to an armchair. He sat down, pulling her into his lap.

"No, you don't, and why aren't we sitting on that _big, comfy_ couch, but sitting in this comfy, squishy, small chair?" she asked, pulling away from him.

He held onto her waist, pulling her back. "Because I like you right where you are," he said, before his eyes widened and he looked away, blushing.

Natalie stared at him, registering that _Sirius Black_ practically admitted that he liked her, Natalie Hawk.

Sirius didn't look up for a few minutes, hoping that he hadn't just said that and that if he had, Natalie would forget it and move on.

"Sirius…" Natalie started nervously, "Do you…do you mean that?"

Sirius blushed and nodded, still not looking up. Natalie lifted his face to hers and made him look her in the eye. "Good," she said, and she bent down, kissing him soundly on the lips. She broke away a moment later, Sirius in a daze.

"Be my girlfriend?" Sirius gasped, holding her tightly in his lap.

"Yep," Natalie said happily, snuggling into his chest. Sirius, not used to this kind of cuddling, responded awkwardly by resting his chin on the top of her head.

"Are you going to tell me what's in that diary, Nat?" he asked, shifting so he could see her face.

"Um…No, I can't," she said, apologetically.

"And why not?"

"Because its not my diary," she looked away, knowing Sirius could see right through her.

"Oh. And what, Miss Hawk, are you going to do with Miss Evans' diary?" he smirked at her.

"I…Um, well, see…Uh…" Natalie stuttered, looking anywhere but Sirius' teasing eyes.

"Oh, all right. Mac, Alice and I want Lily to realize that James is perfect, and we want to get them together. We want to find out who she fancies, because she's been acting weird lately. So, we got her diary and were in the process of reading it, not having found anything interesting yet, when you guys showed up and Lily and James started snogging," She told him, half-hoping he could help them. Really, the incessant arguing was quite annoying.

"Hm….Maybe Remus and I could help you," he said thoughtfully.

"Ok, well, I should go. I just barely escaped. Alice and Mac will be ready to kill me if they find out that while they've been restraining Lily, I've been down here snogging the hottest guy in the school." She paused for a moment. "Actually, that's rather biased, because Mac has Remus, Alice has Frank, and Lily _will_ have James."

"Whatever. As long as you think that," Sirius said, kissing her forehead. "You know, I could get used to this cuddling stuff," he said as he buried his face in her hair, inhaling the flowery smell.

Natalie grinned. "You know I would love to stay all cuddled up with you, but I better get back before they wonder if I fell in the fire or something." She got up, kissed him soundly, and flounced up the stairs to the girl's dormitory.

Sirius sat there gazing into the fire for a long time. At quarter after two, he finally got up and made his way toward his dormitory.

Quietly opening the door, he started to grin. He entered the room, trying to force the grin off his face. It wouldn't budge.

"Sirius! Finally! We were wondering what had happened to you! But you're here now! So we can start planning how to get me and Lily together!" James exclaimed, bounce round the room like a five year old.

Sirius looked up startled. He hadn't noticed Remus and James sitting on Remus' bed, wands lit, emitting light.

"Oh. Right. Yea. We'll…Uh, we'll do that in the morning, eh, Prongs?" He asked, making his way over to his bed, stripping off his shirt and tossing it into the corner. He crawled in, drawing the curtains.

"Wonder what's up with him," Remus mused.

"Eh, whatever. He said he'd help in the morning. Maybe he's tired," Peter said, speaking from his bed on the far side of the room.

Remus and James looked at each other, knowing that Sirius wouldn't go to bed before three AM without a good reason. He hadn't his whole time at Hogwarts. Something was definitely up with him.

James and Remus stayed up discussing plans on how to get James and Lily together.


	2. Chapter 2

- - - - Girls dorm - - - -

As Natalie opened the door, grinning happily, she was hit in the face with a pillow. Jerking up, she noticed that all the candles were lit and no one was sleeping.

Lily, Mac, and Alice were sitting on Alice's bed, laughing and giggling.

"What did I miss?" Natalie asked, coming over to them.

"Nothing, Dear, nothing," Lily said, collapsing into a new bout of giggles.

Natalie glared at her, though it did not receive the desired result, as Lily wasn't paying attention. She switched her attention to Mac. "Mac? Care to enlighten me?" she asked, voice dripping venom.

"No, not really, Nat," Mac said, smirking.

"Alice…?"

"Nope!" Alice said, giggling.

"Lily! You had better tell me what is going on!" Natalie shouted.

"Nope. Not until you tell us how it was down there with Mr. Black!" Lily crowed, smirking at Natalie's flabbergasted look.

"How did you know?" Natalie finally managed to ask after staring at them for a few minutes.

Alice smirked. Mac tapped a pointer finger to her noise, and Lily said, "Because, Mrs. Black, we know _everything_."

"Don't call me that!" Natalie said indignantly.

"What? It's sooooooo going to happen some day!" Lily crowed, eyes twinkling.

"I _could_ call _you_ Mrs. Potter, but I wont, even though 'it's so going to happen some day!'" Natalie retorted.

Lily shut up pretty quickly.

"Speaking of which…" Mac started, "why did you kiss him?" She grinned slyly.

"WHAT? I didn't kiss _him_! _He_ kissed me!" Lily shouted, outraged.

"Lily, it's no used denying your feelings for him any longer. We're all onto you. We know you're just playing hard to get!" Natalie said, catching onto what Mac had in mind.

"WHAT?" she yelped. "I am _not_ playing hard to get!"

"Oh, Lily, Lily, Lily! We're your best friends! You don't have to hide anything from us! We wont tease you….that much," Alice said, smirking.

"No! I don't like him! Ew! That's _Potter_ you're talking about! Ew!" Lily shouted, getting up and running to the other side of the room. She hid behind Mac's bed, holding her pointer fingers in the shape of an "x".

"A _hot_ Potter!" Alice said.

"Alice! You have a boyfriend!" Lily said, shocked.

"Oh….Yea, I guess I do. Hmm…Maybe I should do something about that? Especially if it's keeping me from ogling James Potter!" she said, laughing.

Natalie nodded agreement. "C'mon Lils! Just go on _one_ date! We promise we wont make fun or tease or bother you about it again if you go on _one_ date!"

The three girls got down on their knees and held their hands up as if they were praying. "PLEASE?" they shouted together.

"No!" Lily shouted. "I wont!"

Natalie started the puppy dog eyes, and Alice and Mac caught on. Faced with three girls making puppy dog eyes, Lily consented.

"All right. _One_ date! ONE date, and one date only!" she said, raising her voice above the radical screeching coming from her "insane roommates".

"YES! Lily, you will _not_ regret this!" Alice shouted, running over and hugging Lily.

Mac and Natalie joined them a second later.

"GUYS! I can't go on a date if I die because I can't breathe!" came a muffled voice under three pairs of arms.

"Oh." Alice backed away, letting Lily get out.

Mac and Natalie jumped around the room, hugging and screeching at the top of their lungs.

All of a sudden, the door was blown open, revealing an extremely angry James Potter and a tired Sirius Black.

James glared at the four girls. "What the _hell_ are you doing? I am trying to sleep!"

Sirius nodded sleepily in agreement. "James, since I was such a good friend and followed you here and all that, can I go back to bed?" he asked, yawning.

James glared at him for a moment before heaving a sigh. "Fine."

"Night Prongs, Ladies," Sirius yawned again before getting back on his broom and flying to the boys' dormitories.

The girls exchanged wary glances. An angry James potter was not your average cup of tea. There were very few people who had his power limit, and those who did could not be bothered with such petty matters as protecting four teenage witches.

"Uh…James?" Mac chanced.

"Shut up, Lark," James hissed, using her last name for the first time in almost a year.

Mac shut up, looking to the others for back up. Natalie stepped fore ward.

"Look, James, go back to sleep. We're sorry we woke you up!" she said, hoping he would just leave, but knowing that it was very unlikely.

James glared at her and she backed away.

Mac looked at Alice and Alice shook her head feverently. Mac nodded, knowing that Alice would not be able to do any better. _Lily!_ She thought. _Where is that girl anyway?_ Mac looked behind her and her eyes widened farther than she had though possible.

"Oh my God," she whispered, tapping Alice on the shoulder and pointing to Lily. Alice's jaw dropped and she roughly grabbed Natalie's arm, dragging her attention away from James.

"What? Haven't you ever heard you're not supposed to turn your back on your enemy, other wise they might—holy crap!" She gaped at Lily.

Lily stood there, in nothing but tank top and a pair of boy shorts. It was obvious that under the tank top she was not wearing anything else. Her hair was down from its ponytail it had been in moments before, cascading down past her shoulders.

Lily sashayed towards them and winked. She turned to James and pretended to gasp in surprise.

"Potter! What are you doing here?"

James stared at the girl in front of him. Her nipples were erect, straining against the thin fabric of her shirt. From her breasts, his eyes trailed down her flat stomach to her hips, taking in the way the boy shorts snuggly fit to them. Her thighs were smooth and hairless, and slightly muscled. His eyes trailed down her legs to her calves, and back up to her face. He was shocked to see that she was flushed, but had little doubt it was anger, not embarrassment.

"Wow," he whispered hoarsely.

"Get out, now, Potter," Lily's voice was like ice, knocking him out of his trance-like state.

He nodded dumbly, too shocked to speak. As he was backing out the door, Lily stopped him.

"By the way, you're taking me to Hogsmead next week. Pick me up in the common room at 10 AM." Next week was the first Hogsmead weekend of the year.

James' eyes widened and his mouth fell open in shock. Lily walked up to him, closing his mouth. "It's not becoming," she said, giving him a shove out the door.

The door closed with a snap, James Potter on one side, wondering what Lily had gotten into, and a Lily Evans facing four extremely shocked friends.

Alice was the first to break the silence. "Well. Well. Well! I must say that was very er…interesting!" she said, nodding.

Mac and Natalie nodded in agreement. Lily smirked at them. "Of course! Who do you think I am? I'm Lily Evans! Of course it's going to be interesting!"

Mac nodded thoughtfully. "Yea, you're right. And I am so glad that Remus asked me to go to Hogsmead with him next week so that I don't have to go with you."

"Uh…Yea, I'm going with Sirius!" Natalie said, unconvincingly.

"And I'm going with Frank! So I can't go with you, sorry!" Alice added, not looking sorry in the least.

"Well. Fine then. See what friends I get!" Lily said huffily, climbing into her bed.

"Night, girls!" Alice said sleepily. Two other "'Night"s were answering when she heard "Shut up!" from the bed in the far corner. "Oh piss off, Lils! Be happy! You have a date now!"

A grunt was her only response. Knowing she had gotten to her, Alice rolled over and drifted off to sleep.

- - - - -

The next week past with out much excitement. The Marauders executed a perfect prank, landing them in detention for Thursday night. The girls realized that reading Lily's diary had been pointless. She hadn't written anything in it, other than little tidbits of what had happened, as far as they could tell. The girls and the Marauders avoided each other, even though four of them were going out. The first bit of excitement came on Friday night, when Lily and James got back from their second meeting with Dumbledore.

- - - - -

It was Friday night and Mac, Alice, and Natalie were sitting around the fire, doing the Transfiguration essay, waiting for Lily to get back.

Sirius, Remus and Peter were at a table slightly to the left, debating in harsh whispers.

"Lemme see your essay, Nat. I only need two more inches," Alice said, grabbing for the essay in question.

"No. Write it your own," she replied, getting up and stuffing the parchment into her bag.

The portrait hole banged open so hard that it bounced off the wall, causing the Fat Lady to shout, "Watch it!"

"That is IT, Potter! I'm not going to Hogsmead with you tomorrow! If you can't keep your hands to yourself for ten minutes then I'm not going to spend God only knows how long with you tomorrow!" With that, she turned on her heel and attempted to make a dramatic exit.

James reached out and grabbed her arm. He tugged her back viciously. "You are going to Hogsmead with me! I get what I want! And I want you!" He hissed dangerously, leaving it clear that he had the last say.

Lily glared at him. "There's a first time for everything." She turned on heel, this time nothing stopped her.

Everyone in the co0mmon room stared after her, shocked. No one had so obviously defied James Potter.

The first sound to break the silence was a sigh coming from a group of three girls near the fire.

- - - - -

The next morning, Lily was shaken roughly awake at 8 AM. "Up, Lily!"

"No. I told him I wasn't going to go Hogsmead with him." With that, she promptly turned over and went back to sleep.

"Oh no you don't!" Alice said, conjuring a bucket of ice water over her. Smirking, she flicked her wand, water falling onto Lily.

"IIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Lily shouted, jumping out of bed and chasing Alice around the room three times before Mac and Natalie stopped her.

"Wha'd you do that for?" Lily roared, trying to get past Mac and Natalie.

"It woke you up, didn't it?" Alice grinned impishly.

"AHHHHGGGG!" Lily grabbed her robe and stormed into the bathroom. As the door slammed, she heard a "Ha, serves her right for trying to break a promise to us!"

An hour later found Lily and Natalie sitting in the common room, waiting for Mac and Alice.

They were discussing plans to meet up for lunch in the Three Broomsticks when two black haired boys appeared in front of them.

"Nat!" Sirius swooped down, kissing her. He grabbed her hand and pulled her away promising Lily, "We'll meet you at 1 in the Three Broomsticks!" And with that, they were out the portrait hole.

"Lily!" James said, reaching for her hand. Lily yanked it off the arm of the couch and into her lap.

"No touching, Potter!" she got up and made her way across the room. James hurried after her.

"Lily! This is a _date!_ People usually hold hands on dates!" he shouted, trying to catch up to her. "Wait UP!" finally giving up on walking, he started to jog, easily catching up with her. However, he had to keep jogging to match her pace.

"What do you want?" She asked impatiently.

James eyed her suspiciously. "We're on a date, remember?" he asked.

"You might be on a date, Mr. Potter, but I am not." Lily said coldly.

"Yes, you are, and you're on a date with me," he retorted, grabbing her hand and sliding an arm around her waist, crushing her against his long lithe body.

Lily was indignant and tried to break free, only to discover that being a chaser had helped James a lot in the muscle department.

"You're not leaving my side today, Princess," he whispered in her ear as he steered her out of the castle and down the worn path to Hogsmead.

"Potter! We could take the carriages!" Lily said, trying to change direction.

"Nope. It's a lovely day, and we shall walk to Hogsmead!" He tugged her back to him. She stiffly walked next to him. He tightened his grip on her waist. "Loosen up, Lils. You're with me! How bad can it be?"

"Very," she said stubbornly, forcing the voice that was telling her how good it felt to walk next to his lithe body and wondering how it would feel without cloth separating them to the back of her head. She did, however, loosen up and relaxed slightly into his hold.

He loosened his grip on her waist slightly. They walked in a companionable silence the rest of the fifteen or so minute walk to the gates.

As they neared the gates, James broke the silence. "So. What do you want to do first?" he asked, stopping right outside the village.

Lily looked at him startled. She had expected him to drag her off to Zanka's or what ever that store the Marauders loved. "Huh?" she asked smartly.

James looked at her, slightly surprised that she hadn't insisted they go to some jewelry or robes store. "What?"

"What about Zanka's or whatever you like? Why didn't you drag me there?" she asked, trying to justify that he was just messing with her and he would drag her there in a second.

"First off, its Zonko's, and second, I'm not going to drag you anywhere. I'm going to make sure you enjoy this as much as I want to!" he said happily.

"NO!" Lily shouted.

James looked surprised. _"I try to be nice and ask what she wants to do, and all she wants is to be dragged around to Zonko's!"_ he thought, getting slightly irritated.

"Fine, I'll _walk_ _with_ you to Zonko's." James started into Hogsmead and thought he heard Lily heave a _satisfied_ sigh. _"Girls are so weird,"_ he thought.

They walked down the main street, passing other students. Even though she had been coming for nearly four years, Lily could not cease to be amazed by the sights.

James looked at Lily who was smiling like a five-year-old who had just been told Christmas was coming early this year. _"She's so pretty,"_ he thought, then mentally slapped himself. _"I promised I wouldn't think anything like that today. We're just here as friends!"_

He was shaken out of his thoughts as Lily pulled on his arm, dragging him over to a shop window.

James vaguely noticed that it was a jewelry shop. He was too preoccupied by trying ignore the fact that Lily had willingly taken his hand and how nice it felt.

"Look! Isn't that so gorgeous!" she gasped.

James looked at the necklace she was pointing to and had to agree. It was a silver chain with two charms on it. The first charm was a silver heart locket with a pink jewel in the middle. The second was a key, with the same sort of jewel.

"Oh, James! It's so gorgeous!" she said, staring at it. "Did I just call you James?" She paused for a second, but when James started to answer, she continued. "Never mind. Oh, its so gorgeous! Oh, but the _price!_ The price is hideous! Oh, I could never afford something like that in a million years!" she wailed. "It's not like I would have bought it anyway, but now I _can't!"_

James looked at Lily's face. She looked truly sad. "How about I guy it for you?" he asked her.

"I—what! You wou—oh, I can't let you! No, that wouldn't be good. Oh you were just joking right? Right! Ok, good!" Lily started to rant about how he must have been joking when James covered her mouth with his other hand, noticing that her smaller hand was still around his bigger, calloused one.

"No, I wasn't joking! I can see you really like it! I want to buy it for you. To say that I'm sorry for everything I've done to you!" James said earnestly.

Lily looked him, shocked. "All right, who are you and what have you done with James Potter?" she asked, poking him in the chest.

"What are you talking about? It's me, James Potter, Marauder, Prankster, Hottest Man Alive, Quidditch Captain, Bravest Gryffindor, Star Chaser Of The Gryffindor Team, Best Man—"

"ALL RIGHT!" Lily said, grinning slightly. "No man could be that arrogant and not be James Potter!"

James grinned back. "You look very beautiful when you smile like that," he said, not thinking. When he realized what he said, he turned bright red, and looked somewhere over to the left.

Lily just raised an eyebrow. "Well, come on! Are you going to buy me my gorgeous necklace or what?" she asked, laughing.

James looked at her gratefully. "Of course! No one as gorgeous as you, m'lady, should be with out such a gorgeous necklace!" He swept into a gallant bow. It lasted only a moment before an old witch walked by, bumping into him. James stumbled for a moment before he tipped right over, falling on his butt.

"Ow," he said, looking up. "It sure is cold down here." He glared indignantly when he found that Lily was doubled over in laughter. "It's not funny!"

Lily could only manage a slight nod before collapsing next to him. "Can't—Can't—Can't—Breathe—" Lily managed. She leaned on his shoulder, shaking in silent laughter.

James stared at her incredulously. "I fall on my butt, breaking my butt bone—all for you—and this is how you repay me?"

Lily continued to laugh for a few more minutes before James grudgingly started to chuckle. "I guess it was pretty funny," he said, starting to laugh harder.

It was about five minutes later when Lily and James had finally calmed down. Every time they tried to stop, they looked at each other and started again.

James stood up first, reaching a hand down to help Lily up. Once she was standing, he adjusted his hold on her hand and set off towards the jewelry store.

He opened the door and a bell chimed. A lady came out of a back room. "How may I help you, dears?" she asked.

"Well, Miss"—James looked at her nametag—"Jolene, my erm…girlfriend, Lily, would like to uh see that necklace in the display window. The one with the heart and the key." James sincerely hoped that Lily would not mind that he called her his girlfriend, because he certainly did not.

"That is much too expensive," Jolene started.

"She would just like to see it," James said, eyes flashing.

"Oh, of course!" Jolene practically ran to the window and brought back the necklace.

She left Lily and James to look it over in private.

"Po—James! That wasn't very nice!" Lily said, giggling.

"So? It got you the necklace, didn't it?" James said, grinning at Lily's happy face as she examined the necklace.

"Oh, James, it's even more lovely up close!" Lily said, running a delicate finger over the key charm.

"Then, m'lady, you shall have it," James said, picking up the necklace and taking it to the cash register.

"James! No, I couldn't! Don't spend that much on me!" Lily said, running after him.

"Why not? Lily, I would be willing to spend any amount of money on you, if you'd let me," he told her, cupping her face with a rough, calloused hand.

Lily stared into his eyes and nodded vaguely. James smiled happily. "Good." Turning to Jolene, he said, "We'll take this."

Jolene nodded. "Your total is 200 Galleons." **(A/N: That's something like 1400 US dollars I think? I'm not sure. If it is, wow.)**

James handed over the money and took the necklace. They walked out of the store to a bench a little farther down the road.

"Turn around," James instructed.

Lily did as she was told, holding up her hair. James slipped the necklace around her neck. He fumbled with the clasp for a moment, his long fingers brushing her sensitive skin, sending chills up and down her back.

James finally got it right and he patted her shoulder awkwardly. Lily dropped her hair and examined the necklace.

"Wow," she breathed, staring at James. "Thank you. Thank you, so much!" She threw her arms around his neck in a quick hug. Before James could react and put his arms around her waist, she pulled away and coughed awkwardly.

"So uh, d'you wanna go to Zonko's, was it? And let me buy you something?" Lily asked him shyly.

James laughed. "No, Lils, I will not do something with you that I could just as easily do with someone else!"

"Oh. All right then." She paused. "At least let me buy you lunch!" she said exasperatedly a minute later. "I can't think if any other way to say thank you and I know you wont turn down free food."

"No, I wont turn down food, but I don't want you to buy me something! I want to buy _you_ stuff!" James laughed.

Lily paused and started at him. All of a sudden, she slapped him, hard on the face.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" James roared.

"You're not supposed to do that! You're supposed to be conceited and arrogant and annoying and arrrggg! Not all nice and not conceited and urrrggg!" Lily shouted, smacking her forehead.

James stood there, staring at her, rubbing his cheek. "I've learned that the world doesn't revolve around me. I stopped cursing Sniv-Snape in the halls."

"You've changed," she accused.

"Yea, I've changed," he agreed.

"NO! You're not supposed to! You're supposed to be all bad, not good!" Lily shouted, stomping her foot.

"I've changed!" James defended himself.

"NO! You're not supposed to!"

"There's a first time for everything!" He smirked, slid an arm around her waist, and pulled her snuggly to him.

"What did I tell you about touching?" Lily demanded, trying to pull away.

"I bought you that necklace. I get to touch all I want."

Lily harumpffed.

"So, Princess, what do you want to do now?" James asked.

Lily fixed him with an icy glare. "Nothing, I want to go back to Hogwarts!"

"Sorry. No can do," James said jovially. "You're stuck with me!"

Lily sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine. But I'm not going to enjoy it!"

Over the next few hours, James tried to coax Lily out of her stupor. She would have none of it though, constantly huffing and sighing and glaring. At 12:30, James finally gave up.

"Look, we might as well work our way back to the Three Broomsticks." He said, turning around and head back down the street.

"Fine," she glared, huffing and turning back in the direction of the pub.

James sighed and headed after her. She was a good way a head of him, muttering things under her breath. He couldn't make out exact words, but he thought he heard "…shouldn't be like this…" and "…don't be stupid, no he doesn't…."

They made it across the village and into the pub in less than ten minutes, which, James thought, must have been some sort of record.

Lily flung the door open, sighing happily as chatter and smell of butter beer washed over her. James smiled in spite of himself.

Lily looked around the room, searching for Sirius and Natalie. "There they are! Come on, James!" she shouted, not noticing she had called him James even though she swore to herself he was "Potter." She took off, weaving in and out of tables and people, occasionally bumping into someone.

James grinned at her antics and followed in her wake, glad that she had made a path for him to walk easily.

Lily plopped down in the chair across from Natalie. James followed and sat down more gracefully, landing lightly in the chair next to Lily.

"So," Sirius started, "are you guys hungry?"

James nodded and rubbed his stomach. Lily nodded slightly, rolling her eyes at James.

Natalie glanced at Sirius. An few hours ago, they had seen Lily and James laughing together, having a great time. What happened?

Shrugging, Sirius waved to Rosmerta, the bartender, signaling they were ready to order.

Natalie and Sirius made several attempts at small talk, but Lily flat out refused to answer any questions and James mumbled a yes or no, depending on the question.

Several minutes after they had ordered, Sirius gave up. Natalie would not admit defeat so easily, however.

"All right. Tell me what happened, right now," she hissed, glaring at Lily. "A few hours ago, we saw you laughing and having a ball. What happened? What has gotten into you?" She turned her glare on James, who had the grace to look slightly ashamed and scared.

Lily huffed loudly and turned in the other direction. James glared at her. "It's all her fault!" he exclaimed.

Lily opened her mouth indignantly. Natalie silenced her with a look. Lily sat back in her chair sulkily.

"James. Enlighten me," Natalie smiled reassuringly at him.

"Well. It started out that she didn't want to be with me. So then I got her happy, and we were having a good time. I bought her that necklace she's wearing, and we laughed and had fun, you know? Well, all of a sudden, POW, she slaps me! Then she gets all cranky and wont talk and mutters things and is just pissy!" James said, his voice slowly getting louder and louder.

Lily glared at him. "NO! That's not what happened! Why didn't you tell them you were buying me off? That you bought me the necklace and were being nice just so you'd get me in bed?" she demanded angrily, jabbing a finger in his chest.

James stared at her, shocked. "Do you really think I would do that? All right, granted, I might have last year, but I said—and you agreed—that I've changed! I bought you the necklace because I wanted to! I didn't have some hidden intention or something!" he shouted.

"Oh, really?" Lily stood up angrily. "I doubt that, Mr. Potter!" Turning to Natalie and Sirius, she said, "I told you this was a bad idea! Nat, I told you last week I didn't think he had changed! You didn't believe me! See what you got me?" she backed up, knocking the chair over.

By now, the whole pub had turned to listen. Most of the Hogwarts students grinned to each other. Entertainment. Lily and James were always fighting, and many people enjoyed listening. Half the school thought they were just too stubborn to admit that they loved each other, while the other half was convinced that they actually did hate each other and that there was nothing to admit.

Natalie and Sirius exchanged a look. Nothing good could come out of this. They both sighed and turned their attention back to the fighting couple in front of them.

Lily was waving her hands around wildly, hitting the table every now and then, though if she noticed, she didn't show it. "Yes, it is like that! Potter! Urrg you're insufferable!" she shouted.

"Me? Look who's talking! You're happy and fun one minute then a frigid bitch the next!" he shouted back at her, shaking a finger in her direction.

"ME!" she roared. "I believe you are the one who shags every thing that has nice legs and lips!" she continued to wave her hands around, accidentally hitting an older lady at the table next to her. "Sorry—" she said distractedly.

"You're the one who doesn't like me!" he bellowed.

Lily was silent. James smirked. He had her. He knew it.

"You're right, I don't like you!" she shouted, though not as loud as before.

James was shocked to find he was actually disappointed. His face fell a fraction of an inch before he realized that it was probably the butter beer talking and that he didn't care if she didn't like him. Because he didn't, right? Right.

"Well—Good!" he bellowed. "Because I don't want you to!"

Lily froze. _"I don't care if he doesn't like me! You don't like him, remember Lily! You don't care what he thinks! He's James Potter!"_ she thought.

"I—Well good! 'Cos I don't!" She shouted back, sounding just as lame as James.

"Good!" James said, feeling slightly sad.

Lily nodded. "I—yea! It is! Because I don't!" she said. She fixed her chair and sat down, muttering something like "Stupid Lily should have said something you idiot…"

James sat down, feeling slightly put out. _"You don't care whether or not she likes you! You're an idiot! You don't care! You don't like her! Why does it matter to you that she doesn't like you?"_ James banged his head on the table, causing the drinks to rattle.

Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-ba— 

"POTTER!" Lily roared.

James looked up. "Yea?" he asked, confused.

Lily gritted her teeth and forced a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. "Stop banging on the table, _please_," she said through her teeth.

James glared at her and continued banging his head on the table. He started muttering to himself. Sirius caught a few words and was shocked that he was saying things like "…maybe she likes you…….but you don't care….but you do like…."

Sirius gave him an odd look and leant over to whisper to Natalie what James was saying.

Lily turned to James again. "James Potter," she ground out. He looked up, returning her sickeningly sweet smile.

"Yes, Lily, sweetie?" he asked. As soon as it was out of his mouth, he knew it was a mistake. There was a collective gasp from the rest of the pub.

Sirius winced for him. "Oh shit!" he whispered.

Lily stood up and her glare strengthened. As frightened as he was, James held her gaze, standing up. He didn't blink, but steadily stared back at Lily. Sirius had to give him credit for that. Not many people could face an enraged Lily Evans and live to tell the tale.

"What. Did. You. Call. Me?" she finally managed to ground out, her face steadily turning redder.

"I. Called. You. Sweetie," James said in a mocking voice. _"What the hell?"_ he thought, "_I'm already dead."_

Lily raised her hand behind her head in a fist. James glanced at it and gulped.

"Why?" Lily hissed viciously.

"Uh…" he tried to think quickly, but that fist was all that he could think about.

Lily advanced on him, fist still bent back, ready to fire.

James sighed. _"Might as well get it out," _he thought.

"D'you want the truth?" he asked her, already knowing the answer.

"No, of course not," Lily said, her voice dripping in sarcasm.

"Fine." He sighed again, trying to think of how to say it. "I wanted to," he said, then cringed. "That's not how I wanted that to sound," he hastily added.

Lily gave him an odd look before nodding him on.

"Look." He glanced around, noticing for the first time that the whole pub was avidly listening. "Uh…can we talk somewhere else?" he asked her.

"No. Keep talking," Lily said, lowering her fist.

"All right. I wanted to. But not like that," he added hastily, noting the look of anger she directed at him. "I want to be _able_ to." He said, blushing slightly.

Lily stared at him dumbly. "What?"

James sighed loudly. "I like you, all right?"

Lily continued to stare at him. She squinted at him. All of a sudden, her eyes widened and her mouth formed an "o". She fell back into her chair with a thud.

"Why?" she moaned. As James opened his mouth to answer, she shushed him with her hand. "Rhetorical." James nodded, sitting down in his chair again. "Why?" she moaned again, louder. "You're supposed to be an asshole! You're not supposed to buy me things and be nice! And you're definitely not supposed to like me!" Lily was getting slightly hysterical.

"Uh…why?" James asked, thoroughly confused.

"Because!" Lily shouted, standing up once more.

"Because why?" James pressed, standing up in front of her.

"Because! Because I need to not like you," she whispered, so quietly that James barely heard her. Sirius and Natalie exchanged glances as James broke into an exuberant grin.

"What did she say?" Sirius hissed at Natalie.

"I don't know!" she hissed back, kicking him lightly. "Now quiet!" He nodded meekly.

They watched in shock as James hugged Lily tightly. Sirius closed waiting for the slap, but when it didn't come, he opened his eyes a smidgen. He was shocked to see James was not only alive, but unharmed.

"Say it louder!" James demanded.

"No," Lily said stubbornly.

"Yes," James said in a tone that held finality.

Lily looked down shyly. Natalie stared at her best friend, wondering who it was and where the real Lily was. Lily was not shy. So who was this imposter and what did she do with Lily?

"No. I'm not supposed to! So I wont!" Lily said in a tone much like James'.

"Come on, Princess! Say it! Shout it out! Come on! You can do it!" James said, giving her puppy dog eyes.

"I'm not supposed to!" Lily said, though her stubbornness was leaving her.

"So? There's a first time for everything!" James said jovially.

Lily sighed loudly. "I like you. A lot," she said after a pause.

James grinned happily. Lily shyly returned it.

There was a thud behind them and they both turned to find the cause of the noise. Sirius was lying on the floor in a dead faint.

"Yep, there is a first time for everything," Lily said, taking James' large hand in her small one. James smiled happily, a smile Lily returned.

**A/N: How did you like it? I liked it, a lot. It's much longer, but better, than what it was at first. PLEASE REVIEW!**


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